Jack Parow Responds To Backlash Over Homophobic Meme

Local Afrikaans rapper has been the talk of the town this week after fans were shocked to see the star post a homophobic meme promoting his Parow Brandy range. In the meme, the star used the word ‘moffies’ (a slang Afrikaans word used to describe gay men) alongside an image of the Jonas Brothers while he captioned an image of his brandy range with ‘Die Manne’. Fans of the star were quick to call him out after the meme went public which saw Parow quickly delete the post – but the damage was done.

“It is this kind of blatant homophobia that is now so acceptable in our society, to spew out this hatred and not have consequences. I urge you, to speak out against this hate, and not tolerate this kind of behaviour whether you are part of the LGBTQ+ community or not,” one twitter user urged his followers. Another added “People say it’s just a word. Problem is young boys get bullied with this word. They commit suicide because of it. It’s funny to him but it creates so much more hate in a sensitive world. We don’t need that.”

Now, Jack Parow has issued a statement apologizing for the insensitive post. “I would like to sincerely apologise for yesterday’s post on social media. My social media manager created and posted a meme that is very offensive and it being the silly season and my manager being on leave I personally did not have the time to look at it properly before it was posted,” Parow says. “My management is busy dealing with the social team accordingly. This does not mean to say that I am trying to shift blame. I take full responsibility for it and I am truly, truly sorry. I do not condone hate speech or homophobic slurs in any way and it truly makes me sad that it now looks like that. I have many friends and family in the gay community and I completely understand the struggles they have gone through. I truly am deeply, deeply sorry.”

Many have criticised the apology as being insensitive and, essentially, shifting blame for something so hurtful to a large number of people in the country (and the world). However, the tweet sparked an interesting online discussion where the LGBTQ community explained just how hurtful the word is – and how we have so much more to go to ensure true equality for all.